Cars

From the New York Times: Rental cars are rarely anything special. And that’s just fine. All you really need from a rental is unlimited miles, long-term shelter for a few stray curly fries and a hassle-free ride from A to B and back again before those martinets at the counter charge you for an additional day. If you’re driving a rental, the car itself is most likely not the point — it is merely a solution to a problem. And for many travelers over the last couple of years, the Chevrolet Captiva has been their rental car solution. The Captiva is a rare thing in the American auto market: a vehicle that isn’t available to consumers but is offered only to fleet customers, including the rental car companies. You can rent one, but you cannot buy it.

The mysterious Saturn SL3 is the loch ness monster of the Saturn world. Some have witnessed proof of its existence, but only a few have seen it and I'm not aware of any photos of the vehicle. I've been told that if you can imagine a first-generation SL2 sedan with a SC2 grafted on the front-end, you'd have a good picture in your head of the SL3. Significantly, it was powered by an 2.5L 30-valve inline six-cylinder powerplant (five valves per cylinder!) that reportedly produced around 250 hp.

As the 2013 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show winds down, we're taking a look back at one of the vehicles Saturn showcased at its display back in 2002: the Ion·EFX quad coupe concept. The Ion·EFX was packed with licensed performance and style accessories that were available at Saturn retailers. Saturn Service Parts Operations worked closely with leading aftermarket parts manufacturers who designed the accessories.

On this date in 1990, Saturn sold its first car. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the first Saturn - the blue SL2 sedan shown above - was sold just after midnight to Elaine Terry at Saturn of Clearwater. "I wanted an American-made car and decided to give it a try," Mrs. Terry told the newspaper. It was a 25th wedding anniversary present. USA Today and CNN were reportedly at the retail facility to document the event. "I kept it for 10 months and put over 5,000 miles on it. People all over the country wanted to buy the car from me. One man in Las Vegas was talking up to $100,000 for it."

The folks at Yahoo Autos came across this different kind of YouTube video of the 2000 LW1 that invites viewers to "wax nostalgic over a Saturn." The review was recorded by Regular Car Reviews. Yahoo's Justin Hyde says the video features "astute narration to a wagonload of turn-of-the-century nostalgia. It's enough to make one pine for the plastic-body vanilla cars of yore."

From Auto123.com: Saturn's big family hauler hit the road for 2007, just a few years before the demise of the GM-owned brand. Packing room for up to eight, and riding the same platform as the Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia, the Saturn Outlook packed standard V6 power, plenty of size, available AWD, and a long list of available feature content.

It's been more than three years since General Motors announced it was shuttering its "different kind of car" division. At the time, Roger Penske was attempting to purchase the brand and possibly stock it with cars sourced from plants in the US, South Korea, Mexico, or even Europe. Ultimately Mr. Penske couldn't get a deal done within GM's tight timeframes and Saturn was closed. While frantically attempting to keep up with rumors swirling around Saturn that fateful year, I made a decision to rethink the way I was collecting and reporting the news. In the midst of all the uncertainty surrounding Saturn, I began to draw up plans for new and improved version of SaturnFans.com that could not only help visitors track what Saturn news was happening, but where it was happening as it was happening.

A few years ago Target sold some motorized Saturn Ion toys that were "tuned for speed." The cars were available in two colors: black/purple (pictured above) and red/black (below). On the top of each car were two buttons. Pressing the triangle caused the car to rev its engine, flash its headlamps and under-body neon lights, and finally zoom forward a few feet. The square button started a caused the car to play a catchy rhythmic tune with the lights flashing along to the beat.

Model year 1994 marked what Saturn called "Balanced Excellence" in terms of offering customers exceptional value for their money in the small car market. Attaining "balanced excellence" required Saturn to pay critical attention to a host of buyer expectations. Among them were a high level of performance without sacrificing fuel economy or emissions; affordability while maintaining reliability and durability; and an overall commitment to quality without compromise. Accompanied by numerous continuous refinements, the family of 1994 Saturn sedans, wagons and coupes were proof that "balanced excellence" could be achieved through subtle refinements and continuous improvement.

Random Article from the SaturnFans.com Archives

Earlier this week, the topic of shorter Saturn television commercials airing at a higher frequency was discussed as evidence that Saturn is actively experimenting with new ways to increase brand awareness without increasing their advertising budget.